Evening thunder

36.8mm for April at home in East Devon which is below average, although the year to date total of 338.2mm is above the previous 5 years so far:

Interesting idea, maybe that is a possible factor, I guess it wouldn't be too surprising. (I don't seem to be able to add quotes to my previous posts in the same way as I did before the recent forum skin change)

There's quite a lot of evidence to suggest that they are causing a decline in bee populations, in a way that's to be expected since their very job is to kill insects. Or should we just sit back until we are absolutely sure they are the cause, pretending to be safe because 'we are not sure that it definitely is' the cause? That sounds too much like what happens or is happening with some of the other issues facing this planet. I think you'll find it is a significant proportion of the public that support the restrictions on the use of this group of pesticides, not just 'anti-capitalists', at least for now until there is sound evidence saying they are not the cause (if that actually happens). Good luck living on this planet without pollinators such as bees (at least in current human numbers). I had heard the UK government would abstain because they said there was not enough evidence to vote either way, but instead it seems they actually voted against (quelle surprise)

I see I have been beaten to it, but my reply was going to be 'didn't know it was 2080? ' Wouldn't stronger heat over continents encourage the formation of a continental low (maybe not wet or cooler just lower sea level pressure and the attendant air circulation around it's periphery), as you tend to get over large continents in summer like the Siberian high is replaced by low pressure in summer? I'd have thought this could encourage a higher number of cooler flows to be drawn down the western flank over west Europe. Not what I want to see but makes sense to me. Just thought and nothing scientific though And of course one or a few incorrect or twisted, sensationalised or mis-interpreted media reports magically mean global warming doesn't exist.

I thought of those two when I mentioned the Gower above, Unfortunately I haven't been able to visit them yet but if I did I wouldn't be surprised if they were around the top of my favourite beach list.

Bedruthan Steps in Cornwall may well be it for me. Big sandy beach (completely covered and cleaned of footprints etc at high tide though) with sand excellent for walking on barefoot, and some big/dramatic rock formations rising from the sand. You have to walk down steep narrow steps down the cliff but that's fine for me. (note how small the people are from this view) Of course I like local beaches around here like Sidmouth and Exmouth. Some on the Gower and Pembrokeshire are excellent too, and many I haven't been to so don't really know them of course)

Mmmm sea fog (or mist/very low cloud here now) Currently 8.3C. Yesterday was quite cloudy, low cloud broke nicely but then had quite thick medium to high level cloud much of the day, temp reached 15.3C briefly then sat around 13-13.5C. The day before was very nice however with quite a lot of sun (could feel its strength) and a max of 16.9C, the warmest of the year so far

A nearby site that records sunshine is showing a UV index of 7 at the moment near me! (Davis VP2 sensors) I was a bit suspicious so did a google and found this site; http://www.temis.nl/uvradiation/UVI/uvief0_e.gif suggesting a index of near 7 today. The links posted by ARW WeatherMan on the previous page also show 'high to very high' UV index colors over the south of the country, and the other one a max of 6.8 for my location today. If these are right, so much for the Met Office predicted index of 3 today! I used to think 7 or 8 was the highest we got in the summer, but increasingly have been thinking we sometimes could get a 9-10 UV index if we can get 7 now? Personally I don't tan so am not all that interested in sitting out in the sun, but I like to follow UV indexes like many weather parameters and like to feel strong sun occasionally.

Frosty early on with a low of -1.1C then clouding over in the morning with most of the day cloudy and now some light rain. Currently: light rain Temp: 9.2C Dew: 7.6C Humidity: 90% Wind: 3mph gusting 8mph SSW Max temp: 10.2C Rain 0.6mm

Not really sure where all this evidence for another poor summer is coming from? Last thing I saw it was uncertain and some members had more positive thoughts, as well as the CFS not being too bad though of course we can't know with much certainty what will happen at this stage. I haven't seen much actual evidence/charts posted on this thread at least. Some people may expect/forecast a poor summer due to recent trends but that is a risky strategy, e.g the trend of mild winters and a few thinking cold ones weren't possible any more, and a lack of a proper cold March for many years (until this year) a few may expect that or be pessimistic or say a pattern will get locked in, but a similar poster or two said something like March and early Aprils pattern would be locked in and the UK probably wouldn't see 20C until late May, instead we saw 22C less than 2 weeks after they said that. Just seen the suggestions that dry weather at the moment means summer will probably be wet, due to nature balancing things out etc. That didn't seem to work after last April as the exceptionally wet April didn't mean a dry summer.. Indeed after the summer I was wondering if Autumn would be dry to return a nearer average yearly rainfall total. It wasn't, instead 2012 finished with 500mm more rain than normal which was about 160% above average.. If we use that argument how do we know current dry weather isn't 'balancing out' all the wet weather that lasted nearly a whole year before that? March 2013 was wet here, (almost double the average mainly due to one big fall) maybe April is partly balancing that out here? for what it's worth 2013 rain to date is ahead of all other years in my record from 2008 to now. Rolling a 6 doesn't decrease or increase your chance of rolling a 6 the next time, I think that is a reasonable analogy as I think weather is too complicated and statistics too random in the majority of cases to be able to make any meaningful predictions with.

Ah typically I was in the shower but afterwards I saw that had passed just to my south and clipped here . A few moderate showers here that I saw and quite nice now with cumulus and excellent visibility. I had that problem for a while, try clicking the one icon you can in the top left corner that says 'BBcode Mode' when you hover the mouse over it, hopefully that will work as it's what sorted it for me

Sefrics now being detected in the south with 19 in the last 30 minutes: http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=lightning;sess= Heading towards my uni so will probably hit there when I'm at home lol Edit: oddly enough 5 minutes later it now seems to have changed to 11 strikes on that link in the last hour

Quite a nice/interesting end to the day with an orange glow from mid level cloud in the west and lower level rugged cumulus and stratocumulus moving across the sky in front of it in the breezy conditions. Currently: mild and mostly cloudy. Temp: 11.9c Dew point: Humidity: Wind: SSW 13mph gusting 24mph Max temp: 12.7c at 18:40 Min temp: 9.0c at 01:42 Max gust: 32mph at 16:12 Yesterday was the warmest day of the year so far with a max of 16.0C thanks to sunshine in the afternoon and a SW wind, not southerly which comes of the currently cold sea temps of Lyme Bay.

Got back from a trip to Pembrokeshire from Tuesday to Sunday, which was quite cool/cold wet and windy at times. A nice afternoon here today with some good sunny spells and blue sky as the medium-high cloud thankfully cleared, this allowed the temp to reach 16.0c, also thanks to the wind being from the SW rather than a more direct southerly which would come off the currently cold seas in Lyme Bay and keep things a bit cooler like some other days recently Therefore a lovely spring afternoon with the highest temp of the year so far (beating 13.4c yesterday and 13.3c in jan)

Ah I thought I recognised those mountains then saw the link on the picture and your username - I stayed in Nerja on a uni field trip in January, and on the day before we left I saw some quite interesting ones in the morning

Lovely day on the 6th with a 10.4C max (after a cold -3.7C min), and the 5th was nice too but windier. Yesterday wasn't too bad but the haze is back due to the east wind made worse by grey cloud and cold conditions for most of today with light rain some of the time. A bit better now with a few hazy sunny intervals

A min of -2.6C last night and then a very rapid temp rise about 7:30 this morning as a SE breeze kicked in. A 4C rise in about 12 minutes and you can see the rapid rise in this graph: Today was mainly breezy with hazy sunshine and a few lower cumulus, higher cloud is now thicker so the sun is not getting through. The breeze has eased back this afternoon. Temp: 5.8c Dew point: 2.3c Humidity: 78% Wind: 8 mph gusting 20 mph (SE) Max temp: 7.8c at 12:13 Max gust: 29 mph at 13:17 Yesterday was a lovely sunny day with max of 10.4c, the highest since the 18th March. It also had a min of -3.7c, the lowest since the 14th March (this was not as cold as the 8th April 2008 but colder than anything between the 11th December 2012 and the 14th March 2013.. which at -4.4C were the joint lowest minima this season and only equaled April 2008).

The comments on that article make me dispair does everyone think an unreliable media article, or single wrong (possibly temporarily) prediction and a few winters on under 1% of the world mean climate change/global warming doesn't exist and scientists are scammers etc? Anyway on a different note! what a lovely 2 days even if a bit chilly in the wind, sunny and reaching over 9C, seems like a triumph lol. Glad yesterdays forecasts of it clouding over here this afternoon didn't actually happen.

Seems slightly surprising but I'm sure I remember plenty of media headlines about the coldest month for 18 or 22 years or some similar figure in the winters of 2009 and 2010, perhaps more so than a warmest X month for about 20 years. December 2010 was very widely reported so I can only assume they don't know or haven't published articles yet. It was not the coldest for over 100 years in the UK as a whole though and I notice they tend to use the UK figures more. People saying thins like this shows or is evidence that global warming/climate change is not happening/made up, or that we are entering a mini ice age and saying things like 'Another nail in the AGW coffin' based on one month in well under 1% of the world surface area make me either want to laugh or cry. I bet most of the very same people accuse the media etc for jumping on single warm months as evidence for global warming (and I would probably agree with their criticism mainly). On a different note something else I thought is that several years ago near the end of the 'm*dern winter' spell, a few people doubted a sub 3C winter month was possible, now we've had one in March!

Lol, just had a look at it on Google Maps and it looks a far more favorable place for frost than London! in a slight valley at around 100m asl will help too A cloudy day again here with a breeze and quite hazy air again with a max of just 5.3C. It's clearing now though with some considerable breaks and sunshine! Hopefully tomorrow will be sunny and consequently slightly warmer by day. A bit hazier again today thanks to those east winds, I prefer clean air with excellent visibility making things look more crisp and vibrant and brings out our scenery, which usually comes from the Atlantic or the north not the continent, as the haze makes the atmosphere look more 'dirty' especially with cloudy skies. If the UKMO model is right, more spring like temps may arrive next Sunday as the cold feed gets cut off at last and we pick up some SW winds with high pressure nearby!

Pretty underwhelming compared to what the statistics for the UK will say really.. Saw no settling snow apart from about an inch of wet snow briefly on the journey home from Surrey to Devon, and about 3mm to 1cm when I drove to hills of 250-300m in altitude in East Devon a few days ago. Apart from that, just a few snow flurries, plenty of cold days, plenty of cloudy easterlies (more sun recently on some days thankfully), frost but little visible frost due to dry air and/or cloud, only one notable cold min of -4.4C which was beaten in March 2010 and equaled in April 2008, and isn't too unusual. So a lack of visible frost and low mins like the whole year so far. Notable for the mean maximum and mean temps being well below average though, and some notable low maxima such 2.4c on the 11th, 2.7c on the 24th and 3.1c on the 25th. Also notable for the persistence of below average maxima with only 1 day in the last 21 days exceeding 10C. The most notable weather event though at home was probably rain, 42.4mm on the 21st with some flooding of local streams and rivers, and 62.8mm on the 21st and 22nd combined. I don't remember that much in March before although I was not home to witness it. All in all I will probably remember it partly or mainly for the persistence of easterly winds bringing not a lot of interesting weather for me, with lots of cold/below average delaying spring later in the month. The -13/-14C 850hpa temps on the 11th were interesting to have happen though. I will also remember it for some major snow/blizzard events for places with some amazing pics, i.e many places further north than me, or the Channel Islands Blizzard (had that low been 50 miles further north my summery of the month may have been rather different).

They must drive on the other side of the road in Oxfordshire then! In fact, I have a sense of deja vu looking at those pics.. As for snowman, never got a chance to make one this March.

Slightly too far west/south for a decent frost like most of the whole season (too cloudy/breezy in the night), but a lovely sunny start Great site by the way if I haven't said already, though for some reason Google Chrome on my laptop thinks it's in Polish

Just too far south and west to get the cold min temps to add some interest (too much cloud/wind), story of the whole season. On the plus side a nice sunny start now. Currently: Sunny with just contrails and some stratocumulus to the SW. Temp: 1.5c Dew point: -3.2c Humidity: 71% Wind: 7mph gusting 16mph ESE Pressure: 1013.2mb Min temp: -0.2c just before midnight yesterday evening.

if we get a bit later into the season I'd rather that, though maybe with less rain, as there would be more warmth allowing more spring growth. In fact I was frustrated that I missed any interest from that event like most at home last year, due to being in Surrey when it was just normal rain. but then, I don't hate the rain. Though I also think one good aspect of this spell of weather is it is at least sunny at times (unlike others this winter), if there isn't much else interesting for me (very little snow this March here) On a slightly different note about differing preferences, I don't mind people wishing for and enjoying whatever they want and think they should be able to do so freely, it only annoys me when people suggest I/others shouldn't like a certain type that I do, or that there's something wrong with me liking certain weather types, which seems to happen on here sometimes with some types of weather I like, e.g 'Why would you like this', 'can't understand why anyone would like this', implying you shouldn't like this etc etc. Or indeed posts that I should like this type and should dislike that type, suggesting their preferences should extend to everyone else. I haven't actually looked in the main model thread for at least a few days, and by the sound of things I won't be doing so in the near future either!